Media executives don't quite know what to do with YouTube, an online viral video outpost that already streams some 30 million videos per day. While a few marketers looking to create buzz go directly
to the Web site and upload video about their brand, others, like NBC and CBS, have clamped down on YouTube for hosting copyright-infringing clips snatched from TV. However, it's what consumers want;
while sites like Google Video plan to offer video at various pricing models, YouTube is completely free and completely viral. Even experts see a nice little niche developing for startups like YouTube,
which they say will be able to provide bite-sized clips of programming for free to drive consumer interest in content providers' movies and TV programs, up for sale on the Web. YouTube is actively
seeking partnerships with media companies. Just barely a year old, the site already generates twice the traffic of Yahoo Video and more than three times that of AOL Video and Google Video. So far
there is no advertising on the site, but YouTube expects that to change soon. For now it awaits a suitor to help it evolve past the $3.5 million in private funding the company currently subsists on.
Read the whole story at The Hollywood Reporter »
